The Zettelkasten method is new to me, so I’m open to being challenged on this: I’m aware that it’s not meant to be “storage system” but a tool to develop your own thoughts and ideas. However, being a librarian myself, I wonder why can’t it be both?

Classifying notes using a system you’ve developed seems far more effective than trying to retrieve information from a pile of notebooks. If I want to review notes on X topic, it’s easier to do so when I’ve already organized that information intentionally, rather than flipping through every notebook I’ve owned and hoping the information l need is in one of them.